Adelina from Spain talks about popular Spanish dish that is now international.

Ade: Well it’s not a dish, but is very popular in Spain when you order a beer, they put you a tapas and it’s very nice to go out with your friends and have some tapas. I love to do that because you have small portions of food and you can go and ask for some fish or for some meat, so you have a very different kind of lunch doing that, no.

Chris: Oh yeah, of course, everybody knows about the tapas. But they say it’s really something from the south and it has a story behind it, but I don’t really remember it. Could you enlighten me with that story, please?

Ade: Yeah. Tapas means 'to cover' in Spanish. So it was before that when they order something to drink they have to put a little plate on top so the flies don’t go into the drink. That’s why they started calling it tapas, because it covers the drink.

Chris: So when then in the end on that plate they start putting like little things to eat?

Ade: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: And then just that got just bigger and bigger and bigger?

Ade: Yeah, really big. But the problem is that it’s very popular in the south because it’s still original kind of going to have some tapas, because in the north now is like it’s popular but only for tourists. And you have to pay a lot of money to have a tapa. And actually in the original way of having a tapa means that you only pay for the drink and the tapa comes for free.

Chris: For free, oh nice, so that’s what tourists don’t know. So what do you say about that we go and have a beer?